The New Normal
by Trinimex
Summary: Set after s6e6. Damon is back from the dead, but Elena is happily moved on and wants nothing to do with him. So what's a guy to do, but get drunk with his favorite frien-emy, who coincidentally is suffering from a broken heart as well. Maybe he and Caroline would never be friends, but at least they can comfort each other, with or without a bottle of bourbon.
1. Chapter 1

_I wrote this after episode s6:6 when I saw the previews for s6:7. I was pretty pissed at Elena, so there is a fair amount of Elena bashing. Be warned. (also- I own nothing on TVD)_

"So Damon... back from the dead I see." Caroline smiled before taking a drink of her Long Island Ice Tea. She and Damon were sharing a couple of drinks together at a bar situated on the outskirts of Mystic Falls.

"Yup." Damon responded popping the last p, before taking a drink from his own bourbon on the rocks. "You know what they say, 'you can't keep a good man down'." Damon smirked causing Caroline to almost spit out her drink in laughter.

"You? A good man?" Caroline choked on her drink. "Please. If anything you are more like the cockroaches that comes back after a nuclear explosion."

"See, now that's the reason I invited you out for drinks today. I missed your mildly insulting insults." Damon grinned back leaning into his chair.

"Is that so?" Caroline raised her eyebrow at him. "I find it hard to believe you missed anything about me, considering the fact that you have been back from the dead for 2 weeks now and this is the first time I am seeing your face. "

"Awe, Caroline, did you missed me?" Damon teased.

"Hell no. It's not like you and I are actual friends or anything." Caroline sassed with a smile. Though neither Damon or Caroline would ever admit it out loud, the truth was that they did share a certain amount of respect and affection for one another, and when he died three months ago she did miss and grieve his loss.

"Ouch.. " Damon plastered a 'fake' hurt face. "If only I cared, I'd be writing a country song right now." Damon joked, causing Caroline to laugh out loud again.

"So, " Damon continued a moment later. "How's my favorite fren-emy."

"Not bad," Caroline smiled, "Although I am curious about why you asked me out for drinks. According to Elena, you like to spend your days stalking her now. " Caroline continued nursing her drink.

"Normally that would be true. But since Elena, is now going to extremes to get me to leave her alone, I figure I'd give the girl a break and spend today bugging you instead." Damon answered with a teasing shrug.

"Aren't I the lucky one." Caroline sassed back.

"Yes you are." Damon joked before continuing, "In all seriousness, I actually invited you here today because I needed a little normal in my life. And you Caroline are my normal."

"I am your normal?" Caroline asked in disbelief. "Knowing you as I do, I am not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult."

Smirking playfully at her Damon told her, "Compliment. Definitely a complement."

"Since I have been back from the other side, I hardly recognize anything in my life anymore." Damon told her flatly.

"It can't be that bad."

"Oh but it is, want me to list them." Damon started before Caroline could stop him.

"1. I am currently spell locked out of my house, as well as my town so I had to compel myself a new house as well as buy a whole wardrobe of new clothes which sucks because I still have not found a leather jacket I love as much as my old one.

2. My brother with whom I have happily shared a tense love-hate relationship with for the last 150 years, has decided to drown himself in the guilt of giving up on me, and is unfortunately taking me down with him to the pit, in his need to prove his love for me. I mean come on Stefan how many feel good family moments do you need in one day?

3. My girl who is the love of life and the hope that I clung to, to get me back to this life compelled away every memory of our love and is happily dating Dr. Mc Nerdy, even though she knows that deep down inside, she loves me and I still love her. I spent every day of the last 4 months dreaming about the day I would get to see her again, but she is apparently soo happy to be free of her love for me, that she refuses to even spend time with me , leaving me no option but to resort to stalking her just to see her face.

4. My best friend, who used to be a bad ass original vampire with the ability to give my girl back her memories of me, has become human again and is now dating, if possible an even more judgy witch than Bonnie Bennett.

And 5. Despite all the talk I make to the contrary, I actually miss Bonnie. Sure she was the bane in my existence. But she was also a really good person and I loved and admired her a lot." Damon paused sadly, before taking a large gulp from his drink. "And if you repeat any of that mushy stuff to anyone I will gladly break your neck everyday for the next three months."

Caroline smiled sadly at Damon. She knew he cared about Bonnie, just as he cared for herself and Tyler, Jeremy and even Matt. But she never thought the day would come where he actually admitted he cared out loud. Usually that privilege is reserved for only Stefan and Elena. It made Caroline appreciate how much he has grown as a person from the Damon she dated 3 years ago.

"Which brings me back to you Blondie." Damon spoke, drawing Caroline back to the present. "Since I have been gone, everyone I know around and about me has changed except for you... and Enzo.

Since Enzo is in Oregon looking into some stuff for me, it means I have no choice but to get my feelings of "normal" from you.

Caroline made a face at Damon's comment, but on the inside she understood exactly what he meant and how he felt. Truthfully, these last months had been anything but normal for her as well. She could not even remember the last time she laughed like she did earlier with Damon.

Since Bonnie died, and Stefan left her high and dry without a word, and Elena had her mind zapped, first with witchy drugs and then compulsion, nothing was familiar any more. Deciding that since Damon was honest with her, she might as well be honest with him Caroline smiled sadly. "If it makes you feel any better Damon, my life has not been normal since you died either."

"Really?" Damon raised his eyebrow in a questioning smirk. "Is there something you want to tell me Caroline?" he added suggestively.

"Eww No!" Caroline laughed out loud when she realized what Damon was thinking. "I can barely tolerate you as a friend. Trust me when I say, there is no way I would ever want you romantically again."

She continued to laugh as Damon whispered loudly "Thank God"

"Anyways" Caroline spoke getting serious again. "What I mean to say is that when you and Bonnie died, I lost the normal in my life as well. My friends and I were spell locked out of our home town, but no one seemed to care about it but me. I missed Bonnie like crazy, but I could not share that grief with Elena because she was spending most of her time in a dream world rather than the real one. On top of all that, Stefan who I only recently realized I was in love with, left town without saying a word to me. He had no intentions of coming back home, and was perfectly happy living his life new without me in it." Caroline paused as Damon smiled at her sadly. She was sure that learning she was in love with his brother was no news to Damon. Everyone knew she loved Stefan, including Stefan, but whatever, she was not going to feel sorry for herself.

"Normally I would talk about this kind of stuff with Elena. But then she went and had you wiped from her mind, so instead of sharing my boy-drama with my best friend, I had to tip toe around the things I said to her, because I did not want to accidentally reveal her romance with you, while talking about my lack of romance with your brother." Caroline finished lamely.

"The only positive change in my life since your death has been ironically Enzo. When he is not being a psycho vampire feeding on whom ever he will, he was actually kind of fun to be around."

"Are the two of you romantic?"Damon asked. "I know you have a thing with guys with an accent and shady morals."

"I mean seriously, is anyone ever going to forget about the whole Klaus thing?" Caroline exasperated before continuing. "As for your question about Enzo and me, the answer is no. He has made it clear that he wants a relationship with me. But I am still too much in love with your brother to want to be anything but friends with anyone right now."

"I know how you feel." Damon said after a while. "Part of me wishes I could go find some random girl to get involved in, just to stick it to Elena, for moving on so fast. But then I think about it, and I change my mind. As much as I would like a distraction. I don't want another "Andy" on my conscience." Damon paused thinking back to the last 'Elena distraction' he allowed himself to have.

"Which brings me right back as to why I am sitting at a bar here with you." Damon spoke finishing his drink. They continue to look stare at each other through their sadness before Damon shrugged it off.

"I don't know about you, but if we are going to continue all this talks about feelings, I am going to need to be a hell of a lot more drunk than I am right now." Damon told her signalling the waiter.

"Agreed." Caroline perked up, not wanting to dwell too much on her own hurt. "So what are we going to get? Whiskey, Bourbon?"

"All that and a bottle of Tequilla." Damon answered with a smirk.

"Sounds like a plan." Caroline smiled widened. "Lets get wasted."

An hour later, Caroline and Damon got kicked out of the bar for being to loud, not that they cared. They decided that they would be better off taking their party back to Damon and Stefan's new place anyways. Opting to take with them each their own bottle of bourbon for the road.

Entering the house, Damon continued with the conversation he and Caroline had on the walk over to his house.

"I thought she would have fallen in love with me by now." Damon slurred, drinking another mouthful of his bourbon.

"Compulsion changes your memories, not your emotions." Damon continued leading Caroline into the sparsely decorated living room. "I thought for sure, that if I just continued to spend time with her, the love she felt for me would break through the compulsion and return. But nope. I was wrong." Damon dropped himself onto the low-lying sofa. "Instead of loving me, she has spent the last three weeks actively avoiding me. She even went as far as to sleep with that dick of a doctor wannabe just to prove to me that she has moved on, so I would let her go."Damon laughed bitterly taking another gulp of his drink. "She practically rubbed it in my face that she is fucking that guy, knowing fully well that I am completely in love with her, and that somewhere deep down inside of her she loves me too." Damon paused sadly. "I don't understand how she could behave like this?"

"Ok.. I am just going to say it, because obviously it needs to be said." Caroline flopped down on the sofa beside Damon. "Elena is acting like a world classed selfish bitch!"

Taking another drink from her bottle Caroline continued. "Now don't get me wrong here Damon. Elena is still my friend, and I love her very much, but this is some Katherine like shit she is pulling here with your heart, and it's not right."

"I mean seriously! Having all memories of your love wiped from her mind, and forcing all of us to go along with it; Selfish! I mean did she really think it was easy for me to pretend to hate you after you died, bringing Stefan and Tyler back from the grave. Or that it was easy, for Alaric to remove every good thing about his best friend from her mind and pretend that you did not matter that much to him at all? No of course not, she was only thinking about herself. Then... to not want those memories back when you return from the dead; selfish, the old Elena would wanted her memories back the second she found out you were alive.! Then to actively avoid you and push a relationship with Dr. McDweeby, who we all know she shares zero chemistry with, all the while forcing you, the man who loves her, the man her "un-compelled" self loved, to stand by and watch idly as she moved on; selfish and bitchy!" Caroline ended her drunken rant.

"I agree." Damon took another swig from his bottle. "I love the woman, but damn if she is not being a bitch right now." Damon smirked before leaning back into the sofa. It felt good to hear someone for once, sympathize with him rather than running to Elena's rescue whenever the topic of her recent behavior comes up. Smiling, he pulled Caroline into an appreciative side hug.

"For the record, my brother is an ass for the way he treated you." Damon comforted Caroline. "It was a pretty shitting thing to leave town like that without a word to you or any intentions of coming back."

"Not to mention, not taking any of my calls or listening to my messages after he left." Caroline added with a slur.

"Yup, that too was a completely ass-like thing to do." Damon touched his bottle to hers before they both took another drink. " But the one act, that totally seals my brother's ass like status, is coming back to Mystic Falls for the sole purpose of killing Enzo, the only person who was looking for me and Bonnie, and passing his nubie vampire girlfriend off to you. That was pretty low." Damon paused shaking his head.

When Damon noticed Caroline's tears, he pulled her closer. "He's my baby brother, and I will always love him, but treating you like that, with his switch on... that was a completely dick move, even for someone like me."

"Exactly!" Caroline stressed. "I mean, you are the biggest dick I know, and yet you would not treat someone you considered a friend, the way Stefan treated me. The fact that he knows that I am in love with him makes this so much worse. If is switch was off, I could probably understand. But it's not. He chose to hurt me." Caroline sobbed as a few tears came to her eyes. " The least he should have done as a friend was to let me down easy."

Turning to Caroline's tear damp face, Damon shook his head. "No, the least Stefan should have done was this." Damon brought his lips to Caroline's in a hard semi-drunken kiss.

Caroline, froze under the pressure of Damon's lips against her for a moment, before returning his kiss in full.

Pulling away roughly Damon looked Caroline in the eyes and told her bluntly. "I love Elena. I will always love Elena. She is it for me."

Staring right back into Damon's eyes, Caroline answered. "And I love your brother. So don't you dare think for one moment that this means anything." Caroline told him before crashing her lips against his.

Yes they were both in love with other people, and no, whatever this was between them was not going to lead anywhere. But tugging at the belt of Damon's pants, while he hastily unbuttoned her shirt, Caroline could not make herself care. They both knew that sleeping with each other was anything but 'normal' for them, but if they could offer a no strings attached distraction from their own private pain, then why not? They'd give up their "normal" for this brand of comfort any day. Heck this could be their 'new normal.'


	2. Chapter 2

A month later

"Are you sure its ok for me to be here?" Elena asked as she and Stefan pulled into the stone driveway of the house Stefan now shared with Damon, noting Damon's car parked in the driveway.

"Its fine, Elena. Damon knows you don't remember him, and he promised not to push you to remember him until you want to." Stefan answered turning off his car. "Besides didn't you say he's been giving you your space lately."

"Yeah, you're right he has." Elena answered casually, while on the insides her stomach stirred.

When Damon first came back from the dead, Elena could not get far enough away from him. Everywhere she went, he was there, constantly taunting her about the fact that she used to be in love with him. Damon's stalking had become so bad, that she finally had to resort to extremes to push him away. She was pretty sure she hurt him when she slept with Liam, but Liam was her boyfriend now, not Damon and she had just wanted Damon to face that fact.

Unfortunately, she apparently got what she asked for. After finding out that she slept with Liam, Damon stopped coming around. He no longer waited for her outside her class to walk her home, nor did he call her at night any more just to 'hear her voice', nor did he show up at any of the parties he knew she and Liam were going to be at just to harass her.

At first Elena had been a little confused when Damon suddenly stopped stalking her.

Then she had actually felt happy about it... for like two days.

Then she became worried that something happened to him, and now... well now she had arranged an occasion for Stefan to take her back to his place, just so that she could see Damon again.

She did not want to admit it, because she still did not remember her relationship with Damon... but she knew the ache she was feeling in her heart was her missing his presence in her life. Maybe when she saw him today, (because there was no way she was going to visit his house and not see him), maybe she could convince him to give "friendship" a try. That way, she still got to keep Liam as a boyfriend, but did not suffer these Damon related pains in her chest.

"Ok, enough stalling. You promised you'd help me come up with a plan to get back into Caroline's good graces." Stefan spoke, snapping Elena out of her daydream. "Lets go Gilbert. You and I have some planning to do."

Smiling at her friend, Elena and Stefan stepped silently out of the car and walked towards the house. It was only after they entered the house, did their vampire hearing pick up on the sounds coming from the kitchen area.

As in a daze, both Elena and Stefan walked slowly to the kitchen, swinging open the kitchen door, just in time to see Damon and Caroline meet their mutual climax. 

"Fuck!" Damon moaned, squeezing his eyes shut from pleasure, as he came inside of Caroline. Caroline talked a lot, and she was a weepy drunk, but man was she great at drunken sex. 'Especially drunken table sex'. Damon thought as he continue to enjoy the feel of his dick buried deep inside her.

"Fuck you too Salvatore, for being so fucking good." Caroline answered back, struggling to catch her breath from her powerful orgasm. She hated to admit it, but Damon really was a sex god. Leaning forward she kissed him hard on the mouth before falling back on her elbows. She was exhausted, and her back hurt, but at least she was mindless with pleasure. They were both mindless with pleasure.

Then the door creaked and all their pleasure instantly disappeared. They were not alone.

Noticing Stefan and Elena standing in the open doorway just behind Caroline, Damon closed his eyes again and swore silently. Of course they would be here right now. Just when this thing with Caroline was starting to get good, the only two people in the world who could ruin it (Stefan and Elena), had to walk in and ruin it. He just couldn't catch a break.

At least the kitchen island and Caroline's fully clad body, shielded his nudity from their view. This could have been really awkward if he and Caroline were both naked and had to get dressed under the watchful, judging eyes of people they still loved. Pulling out of Caroline, Damon slid his pants back into place with a causal grace.

Neither he or Caroline had a reason to feel guilty, so he refused to act like it. Thankfully Caroline did not act guilty either.

Caroline said nothing, nor did she look at Elena and Stefan, even though she knew they were standing in the open door behind her. What could she say anyways? Instead she waited until Damon buttoned and belted his pants back up, before hopping off the counter and straightening her skirt. When she was sure she looked decent, she reached up and give Damon a sad smile.

"Same time next week?" she asked, Damon nodded.

After that, she turned around and finally faced their audience. "Elena... Stefan, I didn't think I would be seeing you two here today. I wish I could stay and chat, but Damon and I were just finishing up, so I guess I will be on my way. " Caroline walked past them as if they did not just catch her in the act of having kitchen sex with Damon. "I will see you back at the dorm." she waved to Elena before grabbing her purse from the sofa and heading for the door.

Damon looked at his brother and Elena sheepishly for a moment before calling out. "Caroline, wait up. I'll give you a ride back to your car." And with that he too moved past a still shocked Elena and Stefan, to grab his shirt and keys to meet Caroline outside. 

It was only after Elena heard the sounds of Damon's car retreating down the street did her control break. "What the fuck was that!" she cried grabbing at her chest as if doing so could make the pain go away.

Stefan himself had his hand over his mouth just as stupefied as Elena was.

"Caroline is sleeping with Damon!" Elena cried again, as if saying out loud would make it all suddenly make sense to her.

"I don't understand how she could do this!" Elena stressed pacing the kitchen. "How could he do this. He said he loved me. " Elena continued to rant before slamming out into the living room. Stefan followed quietly after opting to take a seat on the sofa while Elena continued to pace the room.

"I mean... she still has her memories! She knows that he is in love with me, and that deep down on the inside, I am in love with him, so how could she do this to me! "Elena suddenly had tears in her eyes. "Stupid bitch" Elena cried slamming a lamp across the room, as emotions she could not even define began to overwhelm her.

"Elena that's enough!" Stefan finally shouted. "If anyone is stupid here, its you and me. I love Caroline. I've been in love with her for a while now, but instead of acting on it. All I do is ignore it, and ignore her love. I pushed her away. I told her and everybody else that I only wanted a friendship with her. So can I really blame her for hooking up with Damon." Stefan paused as a depressed look covered his face.

"Well I can blame her" Elena cried angrily feeling as if her gut was being ripped out. "She knew what Damon meant to me. She could have chosen anyone else but him."

"Why Elena? Why not him?" Stefan defended his brother. "He loved you, and he came back from the dead for you, but all you have been doing was rubbing it in his face that you forgot about him and have moved on. I mean for Pete's sake you slept with another guy, knowing that Damon still loved you, and that deep inside you love him too. So don't you get all holier than thou with Caroline and Damon." Stefan finished, shaming Elena into silence.

"The truth is Elena, I am ass, and you are a selfish bitch. We both deserve to lose them over how we treated them these last couple of months. " Stefan breathed before pulling his keys back out of his pocket.

"But I refuse to be an ass to Caroline any longer. I love her and I know she loves me. If there is even the smallest chance of her forgiving me and giving us a shot then I am going to take it." Stefan reached for the front door before Elena stopped him.

"But what about Damon?" Elena asked.

Looking over his friend sadly, Stefan decided for once in his life to be honest with her. "You don't want him Elena." Stefan reminded her. "And frankly," he added in a cold but honest voice. "Damon deserves a lot better than you." And with that, Stefan slammed the front door and sped over to his car.

Elena watched him drive away with tears in her eyes. Stefan was right. She was a selfish bitch. She could have avoided this whole situation if she had just given Damon a chance to show her why she fell in love with him in the first place. But she didn't. Instead, she pushed him away. Because the truth was that she simply did not want to be in love with Damon.

Laughing bitterly, she realized the joke is on her now.

It did not matter that she still had no memory of their life together, or the fact that she did not want to be in love with him, or even the fact that she had a new boyfriend now. The moment she saw Damon and Caroline together on that island counter, the love she felt for Damon broke free inside of her one big crazy jealous rage. Damon was hers and no other woman was allowed to have him!

Except... he wasn't hers.

She pushed him away and told him the only man she wanted now was Liam. So what right did she have to feel so broken up on the inside that he was moving on with his life. Stefan was right. She was a selfish bitch, and Damon... he deserved better than her.


End file.
